Adult Studio of The Year 2011

Girlfriend Films Quietly Changes The Industry

We know this will probably come as a shocker to many, our pick this year for Studio of the Year is Girlfriends Films. More than the little engine that could, Girlfriends Films has been on the forefront of a major change in the adult industry and a model for an adult studio that not only has survived during the Great Recession, it's thrived. Where we've given great kudos to New Sensations and their Romance Series for bringing couples back to porn, Girlfriends films has been bringing new women consumers in through the porn door in droves, and we do mean droves. A cursory glance at Hotmovies top list through out the year had Girlfriends Films consistently dominating nearly all the spots on the top list.

Title wise, Girlfriends films has expanded their offerings of girl/girl titles to fit a wide range of styles and interests. One of the things we love about Girlfriends Films series is that they are indeed series, serial soap operas with ongoing shorelines that reward the viewer including the Please Make Me Lesbian series which has garnered several XCritic Pick ratings, Lesbian Sex and Budapest series which also have gotten high marks. But Girlfriends Films didn't stand alone in the success, they brought others along for the ride including Jincey Lumpkin and her Taxi series, which was a run away hit in the lesbian community

You can judge a company by who works with them and Girlfriends Films attracted some truly amazing performers in 2011 including India Summer, Prinzzess, Elixis Monroe, Dana DeArmond, Heather Starlet, Julia Ann and Jayden Cole (an absolute XCritic favorite) and has had a great influence on Girlfriends Films directors who have gone on to do great things this year.

But great films and great talent can be found at several studios, it was what Girlfriend Films did beyond the screen which really sealed the deal for us. Girlfriends Films rebooted their membership site as a hub for their fans, not only delivering movie content digitally, they also embraced their fans with new internet talk shows hosted by Elexis Monroe, Dana DeArmond and Samantha Ryan and a real community. While still holding strong to their DVD market, Girlfriends Films also pushed a strong VOD strategy which included one of the toughest stances on piracy in the industry. While other studios were leveraging tube sites, Girlfriends Films focused on the customer and the long term relationship that mirrors their serial series. For Girlfriends Films it's not about selling a single movie, it's about getting customers that follow along movie after movie, year after year and their strategy has paid off well with their Women Seeking Women series up to 77 volumes with the latest getting our top rating.

All this gets to be even more impressive when you realize how small a company Girlfriends Films is. But you wouldn't know it from some of the things they are doing including a monthly charity program that's given thousands back to the community. They're the little guy making a huge impact in the industry with a model on how to do things even in the deepest of recessions.

We feel that girl/girl content is going to be a MAJOR part of the adult industry going forward and Girlfriends Films is poised to be one of that segments real leaders and this year's XCritic Studio of the year.